F1 returns to Sport TV in Portugal as Eurosport sells on rights

Motorsport - 17 Mar 2017

Author: Martin Ross

Action from motor racing’s Formula 1 will return to the programming schedules of Portugal’s Sport TV, after Eurosport, the pan-European sports broadcaster, decided to sell on the rights to the pay-TV broadcaster.

Eurosport won the exclusive television and digital rights to the series from 2016 to 2018 as it made a bold move into the Portuguese market, setting up the premium Eurosport 2 Xtra channel to showcase the Formula 1 coverage and other motor sports series.

However, the channel, which was priced at €5.99 ($6.44) per month, was closed by Eurosport at the end of last month and rights have now been sold on to Sport TV, which showed Formula 1 from 2007 to 2015.

Sport TV said that it will broadcast the 2017 Formula 1 World Championship exclusively and in full, including practice sessions, qualifying and the races themselves.

The deal will allow Eurosport to recoup investment after spending some €2 million per year on the rights.

Sport TV’s Formula 1 coverage will kick off with the Australian Grand Prix, which begins on 24 March. RTP, the public-service broadcaster, held the Formula 1 rights in Portugal before Sport TV took on the contract a decade ago.